Hand sander



Nov. 21, 1961 J. A. WESTERFIELD 3,

HAND SANDER Filed Feb. 23, 1960 I .ATTDRNEY United States Patent3,009,297 HAND SANDER James A. Westerfield, 1215 Moreland Ave.,Owensboro, Ky. Filed Feb. 23, 1960, Ser. No. 10,269 2 Claims. (Cl.51-170) This invention relates to a portable device for sanding varioussurfaces, and is intended to be employed for jobs suitable for beltsanding. The invention is power driven, preferably by an ordinary smalldrill electric motor, such for example as having the capacity up to aquarter-inch drill.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a sander of the aboveindicated nature wherein the belt may be readily applied and removed,with an easily adjusting means for tensioning the belt, and also havingmeans for aligning the belt.

In many of these devices wherein a sanding belt is employed,difficulties are encountered in preventing the replaceable belt fromrunning off the pulley, and also in not having sufiicient tensioningmeans for driving the belt under heavy sanding operations.

The primary object of the invention is to incorporate such a device in alight mechanism which has a minimum number of parts; easily accessible;and positive and long lived.

These and many other objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent in the following description of one particular form of theinvention as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 isa view in top plan of a structure including the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in left hand side elevation with a portion of the Wallof a bracket supporting a belt pressure shoe broken away; and

FIG. 3 is a view in bottom plan, with portions broken away to disclosethe driving shaft.

A body is provided to rotatably carry a driving shaft 11 transverselytherethrough near one end of the body, and an idler shaft 12 is fixed ina holder which in turn is carried by the other end thereof. Both ofthese shafts 1'1 and 12 extend transversely across the body 10 to be inparallel alignment one With the other.

A pulley 13 is fixed on the shaft 11, herein shown as on the left handside of the body 10. A pulley 14 of sub stantially the same diameter asthat of the pulley 13 is revolubly carried on the shaft 12.

An endless belt of sand paper 15 is placed over and around these twopulleys, 13 and 14, as indicated in FIG. 2. This sand paper may be ofany suitable backing such as paper or cloth, and be coated with thedesirable abrasive on its outer surface removed from the surfaces of thepulleys 13 and 14.

The holder above referred to is identified generally by the numeral 16and is generally T-shaped. The holder 16 grips the shaft 12 at the wideend of the holder as indicated in FIG. 3, whereinto bands 17 and 18 areturned around to encircle the shaft 12. The under side of the body 10 iscut away as at 19, FIG. 2, to provide clearance for the shaft 12thereunder. The holder 16 has a down-turned leg 20 with a threadedmember 21 fixed thereto. A screw-threaded shaft 22 screw-threadedlypasses through the leg 20 and the member 21, and is an extension from anoperating handle 23 which abuts by one end a bracket 24 fixed to andextending downwardly from the under side of the body 10 and the cutawayportion 19. The shaft 22 revolubly extends through the bracket 24, sothat the holder 16 may be shifted toward and away from the bracket 24 byturning the member 23 accordingly.

Patented Nov. 21, 1961 The holder 16 extends along under the body 10 toterminate in a loop 25 formed by bending a portion of the body 16 fromits major surface around and in spaced relation back thereunder. A beltaligning handle 26 is provided with a screw-threaded shaft 27 passingthrough the loop 25 with the end of the handle 26 in abutment against aside of the loop upper and lower portions 28 and 29 respectively. Theshaft 27 screW-threadedly passes through a bracket 30 fixed to theunderside of the body 10, preferably in a recess thereunder, and may inaddition pass through a screw-threaded member 31 fixed to the side ofthe bracket so as to produce an increased length of a threaded portionof the bracket 30 over and above the thickness of the bracket itself.

By rotating the handle 26, the holder 16 may be rocked, and in turn thepulley 14 rocked accordingly since it is on the extension the shaft 12beyond the body 10. It takes but very little rocking of the holder 16 toalign the belt 15 on the two pulleys 13- and 14 so as to keep the beltrunning true without tending to run off the pulleys. In the rocking ofthe holder 16, the shaft 22 may rock accordingly since the shaft 22loosely passes through the bracket 24. That is, the looseness of theshaft 22 in the bracket 24 is only that which will permit this rockingwithout permitting any undue longitudinal travel of the shaft 12relative to the body 10. Thus by turning the handle 26 in eitherpossible direction, the holder 16 may be rocked accordingly to providethe necessary alignment of the two pulleys for retaining the belt 15thereon.

A suitable guard or cover 32 is mounted on the body '10 to overhangtherefrom in spaced relation above the upper flight of the belt 15 as asafety device. The sander is supported and guided by a handle 33 whichextends upwardly from the topside of the body 10". A drill (notillustrated) may through its chuck engage the extension of the shaft 11which appears on the right hand side of the device as illustrated.

In operation, the sander is gripped, normally by having the left handgrasp the handle 33 and the right hand grasp the drill body which isattached to the shaft 11. In this manner, the device may be guided overthe surface to be sanded, with ease and safety. When the belt 15 becomesworn as to its abrasive characteristics, operating member 23 may beturned to release the tension on the belt 15 so that the old one may beslid off and a new one replaced, and then tension applied again byturning the member 23 in the opposite direction, the alignment of thebelt over the pulleys being of course again adjusted by the member 26.

A pressure shoe 35 comprising a flat plate is spaced under the bodyclosely over the lower belt flight 15a by a supporting bracket 36 fixedby its upper end to the body 10 While I have herein shown and describedmy invention in the one particular form, it is obvious that structuralchanges may be made, such as making the device left handed as well asright handed as described, and other changes in the structure allwithout departing from the spirit of the invention. I therefore do notdesire to be limited to that precise form beyond the limitations whichmay be imposed by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A portable belt sander comprising a body; a driving shaft rotatablycarried across one end portion of the body; said shaft having drivingand driven ends extending from sides of the body; a belt drive pulleyfixed to the driven end of said shaft out side of the body; an idlershaft; a member extending downwardly from said body at its end portionopposite from said one end portion; a screw shaft revolubly andlaterally rockably carried by said member; a horizontally disposedholder plate having bearing means at one end through which said idlershaft is revolubly carried to have a shaft portion extend laterally fromthe holder and beyond the same body side as does said drive pulley; anidler pulley on said idler shaft outside of the body; said holder havinga member extending therefrom adjacent said idler shaft and through whichmember said screw shaft screW-threadedly passes; said holder extendingalong under said body from said idler shaft to a free end; a secondscrew shaft; 2. member carried by said body and screw-threadedly engagedby said second screw shaft; an abutment on said last shaft in the pathof said plate end; and an endless sanding belt extending around saidpulleys; travel of said holder being had to space said idler shafttoward and away from the driving shaft by rotation of said first screwshaft, and

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSE-rnmons Sept. 1, 1931 Johnson Oct. 6, 1931

